Chapter 712 The person who reads is still the writer
Xun Wen didn't know what Lin Xuan meant by writing two words in a row. He just felt that Lin Xuan was treating him like a monkey.
Lin Xuan put down the paper and said with a smile: "Newborn children are ignorant, how can they say good or bad? It's like a white paper. What does it have to do with whether the words written on it are good or bad? The person who reads it is still the person who writes.
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Good and evil are two sides of human nature. Good and evil are the result of people's gradual education and introspection. If good or evil are the nature of people as soon as they are born from the mother's womb, is it inherited? This becomes
A disguised "blood theory" view.
What humans can inherit is biological material and biological information rather than ideas and morals. From the perspective of human biological instincts, the most basic human needs are survival needs.
As soon as the baby is born, he will "greedily" suck the mother's breast milk. There is no need to teach or educate, everything is so primitive and natural. To survive after eating well is the natural drive of living organisms. This cannot be called evil, but it is human nature.
starting point.
Fully fed → Possession of leftover food or property → Greedy, plundering, debauchery and endless evil, this is the development line of "evil". After being full, receive good education, restrain evil and promote good, learn to share, help others, and even sacrifice yourself for others.
This is another development path of "goodness".
Lin Xuan's words made many people present fall into deep thought.
Some of them recognized Mencius's words, and some recognized Xunzi's words, but they never thought of integrating the two people's thoughts.
In fact, this is not their fault. It is the exclusive respect for Confucianism that has caused the development of Confucianism to become somewhat pathological.
During the Warring States Period, hundreds of schools of thought contended. In order to gain more recognition for their doctrines, they would constantly improve their doctrines.
The exclusive respect for Confucianism not only hindered the development of other ideas, but also hindered Confucian thought.
Until later generations, the main themes of Confucianism were not much different from those of the Warring States Period.
Of course, Lin Xuan was not questioning the behavior of deposing hundreds of schools of thought and only respecting Confucianism.
The Spring and Autumn Period was a period of great chaos among the vassal states. In order to dominate the world, the vassal kings must need reforms. However, the decline of the predecessor Zhou Dynasty could not provide much reference for reform, so all the vassal kings were groping.
A strong country must need an advanced ideology to guide it. To build an ideology that can enrich the country, strengthen its military, and dominate the world, it requires talents. In order to make their country strong, each princely state will naturally recruit talents.
, in order to find an advanced ideology and unify the world. In times of war, and the ideology to guide the development of the country is still being explored, and the princes and kings are thirsty for talents, it is natural for a hundred schools of thought to contend.
After Qin Shihuang unified the world, the Qin Dynasty died in just two generations. It can be seen that although the harsh punishments of Legalism were suitable for unifying the world, they were not suitable for governing the world, so that later in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty chose to align with the Legalists.
For example, Confucianism is relatively good at harmonizing. By establishing Confucianism as the mainstream thought, it can educate the people of the world and maintain the long-term peace and stability of the country. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's exclusive respect for Confucianism is also a general trend. The stability of the dynasty sometimes does require a mainstream thought.
And this mainstream thought cannot be too overbearing or too cold, like Legalism, nor too gentle or too casual, like Taoism. Confucianism just reconciles the coldness of Legalism and the casualness of Taoism. On the one hand, it alleviates class conflicts, and on the other hand, it
Education maintains social stability.
Therefore, whether a hundred schools of thought contend or whether Confucianism is the sole focus, it is just the product of the general trend of the social environment at that time.
In fact, whether it is the contention of a hundred schools of thought or the exclusive respect of Confucianism, there are pros and cons.
The benefit of a hundred schools of thought is obvious, that is, it promotes people's understanding and thinking about the world, and ultimately contributes to the formation of a relatively complete social system; the disadvantage is that the grand occasion of a hundred schools of thought means opposing views, which can easily intensify conflicts.
Intensify the war.
The advantage of solemnizing Confucianism is naturally that it facilitates the unification of the country's thinking and is of great help in maintaining long-term social stability. The disadvantage is not difficult to analyze. It is probably that the dominance of Confucianism has indeed hindered the development of other schools of thought.
Why is it said that the contention of a hundred schools of thought and the exclusive respect of Confucianism are both good and bad? Because things must have two sides, and when one end reaches its peak, it will inevitably develop to its opposite. For example, the contention of a hundred schools of thought in the Spring and Autumn Period, when the prosperity of a hundred schools of thought reaches an extreme, it will be long-term.
As time goes by, many schools of thought will gradually disappear. This is not to say that it is not good for a hundred schools of thought to contend, but according to the law of transformation of things, a culture will inevitably emerge that draws on the strengths of a hundred schools of thought and becomes the mainstream of society. This is Confucianism during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
Many people may want to say that it is extremely extreme to only respect Confucianism. It would be better to let other doctrines disappear.
In fact, although the "exclusive respect for Confucianism" during the Han Dynasty took Confucianism as the mainstream, it did not suppress or completely eliminate other thoughts. For example, Taoist thought and Buddhist culture are both splendid in their own forms. Therefore, although
On the surface, it sounds like "exclusively respecting Confucianism", but in fact it has not reached the point where the whole country only talks about "Confucianism". Regarding culture, successive kings in ancient times still had a certain degree of openness.
However, as the feudal dynasty system gradually deepened and human society gradually developed, Confucianism was indeed rigidly applied in the late feudal dynasty. This rigidity pushed the "mainstream culture of Confucianism" to the extreme.
Confucianism is not something he can shake, and he cannot shake it.
"What a good person who can read and write. What the Marquis said is really alarming. I have learned a lesson." Fang Xuanling stood up and bowed to Lin Xuan.
Lin Xuan hurriedly stepped aside and said, "This is just a family rumor and cannot be taken seriously. The relationship between the two is going to hurt me."
"No, I actually agree with the theory of good nature, and the words of the Marquis made me realize that people are born ignorant, where does the distinction between good and evil come from?" Fang Xuanling said.
Fang Xuanling studied Confucianism, but he was not a true Confucian disciple.
He also touched upon some of the ideas of Legalism and Taoism.
He also participated in the formulation of laws in the Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, he viewed Lin Xuan's words with a normal heart.
But those Confucian disciples were different. Although Lin Xuan's words gave them some insights, and although both Mencius and Xunzi were Confucian sages, Lin Xuan's statement was still a bit difficult for them to accept.
Especially Xunwen, Xunzi is the ancestor of his family, and Xunzi's words are unquestionable in his opinion.
"The Marquis not only refuted Xunzi's remarks, but now you have also refuted Mencius's remarks. Is it possible that the Marquis feels that he compares himself to the sages?" Xun Wen asked.
Lin Xuan said calmly: "I have no intention of refuting Xunzi and Mencius, nor do I think that I can compare with the sages. This is a debate. Since it is a debate, the concepts are naturally different. You use Xunzi's words as the topic of the debate.
, I said as soon as I spoke that I questioned Xunzi, is it possible that you want me to admit defeat directly?"